


If we face each other (even an imagination feels so sweet)

by kaorupecs



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Humor, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Prank Wars, Secret Identity, Texting, do you remember poot lovato? this is that.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaorupecs/pseuds/kaorupecs
Summary: The first thing Yuuta was bombarded with when he entered class was Tsukasa, surprisingly enough.“Good morning Yuuta-kun! Could you tell your brother I enjoyed seeing him today?”Yuuta frowned. “I mean, sure, I can tell him, but why can’t you? Don’t you have his–”“Really, I was surprised to find out that you two had a triplet, but if you want to keep quiet about it I understand—Oh! Was I not supposed to tell? He said he wasn’t ever allowed to leave the basement before, please don’t get him in trouble because of me!” Tsukasa was begging. Yuuta had never thought he’d see the day where he made a rich man beg. Although, to be fair, he had also never anticipated having a secret triplet. The basement must’ve had good security if Yuuta’s never seen him his entire life.or, alternatively:You (3:32 am) : well...im not hinata. im actually-You (3:32 am) : *drumroll*You (3:33 am) : the secret aoi triplet...dinata!
Relationships: Aoi Hinata & Aoi Yuuta, Aoi Hinata/Suou Tsukasa
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	If we face each other (even an imagination feels so sweet)

**Author's Note:**

> EEEEE happy happy happy happy birthday to [erin](https://twitter.com/AOLHLNATA) !! happy nasty nineteen ily and i hope you love this

All things considered, this had started pretty innocuously.

Hinata was just testing the waters, you know? He had spent his first few weeks at Yumenosaki diligently doing his schoolwork—no skipping class for performance time, like how he used to. 

Instead, he had become as close to a model student as he could be...which, retrospectively, he really only could do for so long before getting antsy. Hinata couldn’t just sit still and pay attention in class without disruption _forever_. 

But that’s fine! That’s easily solvable. Hinata’s great at pranks, he can do pranks, the real problem is: who is he supposed to prank?

Running through the list of his own classmates gave him nothing. He didn’t know his classmates all too well yet, but based off of the little he did know, none of them sounded like very good candidates.

Hajime was too nice...Hinata would just feel bad pulling a joke on him, Midori was too...for lack of a better word, pathetic. The thought of hearing moans of “I want to die..” just because Hinata had handed him an oreo filled with toothpaste didn’t sound too appealing.

Tetora and Tomoya _could_ be considered good candidates, but ultimately wouldn’t give Hinata the reaction he wanted. 

There’s just something special about being on someone’s nerves. Hinata gets absolutely giddy knowing when he's caused a problem on purpose, he's on a serotonin high for the rest of the day when he finds out he’s irked someone. The simple thrill of making someone so frustrated their face turns comically red in anger….yeah, it’s perfect. 

...Man. It really is a shame that no one in 1-A has an easy temper. So, the easy solution? Go to Yuuta’s class. 

Laying flat on his stomach on Yuuta’s bed, Hinata’s made it his god-given duty to annoy the answers out of him. He kicks his legs back and forth, purposefully trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.

“Yuuta.” ...No answer.

“Yuuuuta~!” ...Damn! He knew Yuuta had his headphones on, and was working, but you’d think hearing the cries of your brother would at least warrant a response. 

Man.  _Maaan_. He’s left Hinata with no choice, really. Hinata only has one option left. He paused his kicking for a moment, leaning his body halfway over the bed so he could grab one of his shoes.

It slides a little in his grip, his palms embarrassingly sweaty. He readjusts his hold, as he swings his body back onto the bed. Yuuta still doesn't notice, ignoring Hinata’s antics a secondhand instinct by now.

...Which stings. Just a little bit...agh! Whatever! Worries about being an awful brother can be postponed until it’s time for him to go to sleep. As for right now? Hinata’s throwing this damn shoe. Directly at his brother's head.

Bullseye!

Yuuta whips around to face him, a glare already forming on his face.

“Sooo~ Yuuta,” He pauses, waiting for his brother to have his full attention on him. 

Yuuta slowly pulls his headphones off of his ears, his glare gaining strength as he does so.

“Waaagh..! What’s the stern face fooor~?! I haven’t even said anything!!” 

“You _threw_ a shoe at me.”

“It was necessary, I swear! You weren’t answering me!”

“You couldn’t get up and tap me on the shoulder?”

Hinata placed a finger on his chin as he pretended to ponder. 

“Mmm, nope! Because A, getting up is too much work, and B, you would have gotten scared over my tap anyways.”

Yuuta’s frown deepened—almost comically so. The corners of his lips mere centimeters away from his chin. “...Aniki. You suck.”

“Haha, yeah! Anyways, is there anyone in your class who gets easily annoyed? It’s for science ….I promise.”

“...I’m not telling you.” Yuuta folded his arms and moved to turn himself back to facing his laptop. Hinata could _not_ let that happen.

“Waaah..! Yuutaaa! Why won’t you tell me these things? The chasm between us is growing ever stronger! Ahh, my heart can’t take it—I’m going to die, just like this, a man scorned, all due to one croc to the head–”

“Oh my god. _fine_. Tsukasa-kun from my class has a pretty quick temper. Go bug him and leave me alone.”

“Ahhh, Yuuta-kun, you're such a doll! Thank youuu~!”

Yuuta doesn’t respond, placing his headphones back onto his ears as quick as possible. 

Hinata giggles as he eases himself off of Yuuta’s bed and heads towards his own. The distinction between their sides of the room is pretty clear, Yuuta’s side neat and orderly, meanwhile the little amount of possessions Hinata had were strewn about over the floor. 

It doesn’t really matter, though. Laying on the ground, Hinata gets as much of his body as he can manage under the bed, arms flailing out, searching for a notebook. The carpet itches his arms, and it takes way longer than it should, but eventually he feels his fingers latch onto flimsy metal spirals. 

Getting himself out from under the bed is another ordeal, but it’s fine, really! Cleaning is suuuper tedious, and Hinata has much better things to do with his time.

He’s at least organized enough to have his pens located all in one place atop a mug on his bedside table. Sure, the majority are cheap gel pens that he smuggled from the convenience store, but they still work well enough.

Grabbing one at random, he begins to write down the header to his master plan: _Prank Ideas!~☆_ , complete with a mini doodle of himself sticking his tongue out.

This is what occupied him for the rest of the night. No homework, no song writing, no choreography practice. That can wait. For now, the only priority he had was to come up with the perfect prank for tomorrow.

  
  
  


Hinata wanted to start off small, with each new prank increasing in size, and adding another mento to the metaphorical soda bottle that was Tsukasa’s temper.

So, to start off, Hinata wanted something miniscule. Something basic. Something that was honestly amateur: offer Tsukasa some gum, only for him to end up getting shocked instead.

Hinata wasn’t going to automatically throw himself to the wolves, though. All it took was one easily forged note to Yuuta from “Sena-senpai” telling him to meet him in the kitchen, and Hinata was able to ensure that Yuuta wouldn’t be in class early.

Grabbing a few of the hair clips they kept in stock—blue ones, rather than his normal pink—Hinata clipped them into his hair, practicing pouting faces in the bathroom mirror as he did.

It was weird, not having to put on a cheshire grin for once. He didn’t mind it much after a while. It was nice, being able to place his normal overbearing personality on the backburner. Being able to look as disinterested as he sometimes felt, rather than mask it all up, was like a breath of fresh air.

Hinata was able to walk through the halls normally for once. No having to purposefully make himself stand out, or strike up a conversation with everyone he sees. He could just keep his head down and his blue headphones on as he walked to class 1-B.

It didn’t take very long, considering Hinata wasn’t purposefully detouring himself until the point of tardiness. Luckily for him, Tsukasa was the opposite of Hinata, already seated at his desk. He was looking straight forward, hands crossed and resting atop of his desk, completely ignoring the other kids in his class conversing around him.

Pffft, what a nerd.

Hinata rolled his shoulders, taking a moment to prepare himself before walking over to Tsukasa’s desk, a slight frown donning his expression.

Before he could say anything, Tsukasa had already turned to face him, eyes widening a little in surprise.

“Yuuta-kun…? Do you need something?”

Hinata was sure to make his responding sigh not _too_ dramatic. 

“Tsukasa-kun, would you like some gum? Aniki bought me some yesterday, but I don’t like the flavor.”

“Shouldn’t he know you better? He is your brother after all..”

Any ounce of remorse Hinata had washed away after hearing that. Sure, he was committing identity theft right now. Sure, said identity theft was because he didn’t want to take the fall for pranking this guy. _Sure_ , insulting this made up Hinata shouldn’t hurt as much as it did, but it was actually starting to feel like Hinata didn’t know his brother as much as he thought he did. Being reminded of just another shortcoming he had as an older brother hurt more than the slaps to the face or yanks on his arm he normally got when Dad was home. 

Ugh, that’s sad. Hinata’s not sad, he promises!

Realizing he had been silent for a moment too long, he puffs out his cheeks in frustration.

“That doesn’t matter. Would you like some gum?”

More frustration had leaked into that last statement than Hinata would have liked, but it didn’t appear to make Tsukasa second guess his offer.

“Sure, I guess...thank you, Yuuta-kun, for this surprisingly kind gestu—” Tsukasa’s stupidly polite response was cut off by a scream as the electric shock finally worked, happening as soon as he had pulled the stick of gum from the pack.

Really, it was hilarious. And Hinata’s not the only person who thought so! The giggles of Tori joined his intense cackling, the other people in the room soon following suit. 

That was all the information he had allowed himself to gather, though, because thinking was a distraction and he had almost gotten jumped by Tsukasa while lost in his train of thought.

Hinata was pretty good at taking hints when it was necessary, allowing himself to quickly jump up and sprint away from Tsukasa’s desk and out of the 1-B classroom in its entirety, still feeling elated as he heard Tsukasa’s quickly dampening shouts of rage.

Seriously, Hinata’s not sad. Could a depressed person laugh as hard as he did while watching Tsukasa go through the five stages of grief? Or, the two stages of grief, in Tsukasa’s case.

He seemed pretty stuck on anger the last time Hinata saw him, which was only a few minutes ago.

This feeling of joy stuck with him the entire day, the smile he offered his 1-A counterparts finally one hundred percent real. He didn’t try to disrupt class, instead splitting his time between paying attention to his lessons and writing down more prank ideas in his notebook. 

The skip in his step persisted on his walk home alone. Normally he’d be exhausted, his breath coming out in pants as he tried to put himself together. Yuuta can’t know he’s been taking up extra part-time jobs, after all~. Hinata’s muscles had a near-constant tremor so Yuuta’s didn’t have to. Hinata’s hands were becoming more calloused so Yuuta’s could stay nicely manicured, the nail polish Hinata applied not chipping one bit. After these jobs, Hinata was out of breath, sweating profusely, high strung after plastering on a smile for hours on end.

But not today. 

Today, the work hours seemed to fly by. He had chosen to be a greeter and ticket handler for a fine liveshow happening tonight, and rather than waiting antsily for it to be time to leave, Hinata had a fun time making small talk with both his customers and coworkers for the night. 

Humming a work-in-progress melody under his breath, Hinata alternated from stepping on and skipping over the cracks in the sidewalk. Flipping through his notebook as he hopped, he tried to brainstorm some more. What should he do next? Tsukasa does seem to love his sweets, ah, maybe Hinata could do something with that...he’ll run it by Yuuta first.

...speaking of, Yuuta was standing in front of their front window, glaring at Hinata once again. Looking down, Hinata double checked his headphones—pink. Then how did Yuuta know…? He didn’t even have time to think, the door was already being pulled open.

“Aniki.” 

Mm, maybe there’s enough time to make a run for it. Hinata _knows_ he’s faster than Yuuta, all the acrobatics training and heavy lifting jobs he does improving his athleticism by strides. If he made a move for it now—

“Aniki. Look at me. Why, pray tell, did Suou-kun yell at me as soon as I stepped into class this morning?” 

“Mmm, I dunno, maybe—”

“Bzzt! Wrong. _Why_ did you have to pretend to be me to prank him? It took forever to get Suou-kun to believe that it really wasn’t me!”

“Well~ I didn’t want him going after me too soon!” Hinata stuck out his tongue, purposefully ignoring the pang in his chest at the reminder that he’s done nothing but burden his brother again. “...Seriously, though. I’ll make it up to him, and you. Promise. Do you feel like baking? We could make those spicy brownies you like~”

Yuuta huffed out a sigh, but even that over exaggerated action couldn’t stop the small smile from forming on his face.

“Yeah...that man got groceries for once, so we should have what we need.”

“Woot woot!! Brother’s night! Brother’s night! Brother’s night!” Hinata continued to chant, sliding across the hardwood floors of the kitchen to open the cabinet.

“We get it, we get it...uuugh, you’re gonna be like this the whole time, aren’t you?” Mirth sparkled in Yuuta’s eyes, the ends of his lips quirking into a smile.

“Well du-uh!~ I’m always like this!” Lightly knocking his fist against the side of his head for emphasis, Hinata leaned closer to Yuuta. His face was starting to hurt with how hard he was smiling, but it was worth it to see the matching expression appear on his brother’s face.

“If we want to talk about change in emotions, though, you’re beginning to act an awful lot like that one senpai of yours..” Hinata teased, waiting for the cries of “you’re soooo annoying” to fall from his brother’s lips.

Instead, Yuuta’s eyes widened a comical amount, his pupils shrinking at an exponential rate. 

“Oh my god. No, no I’m not– _oh my god_ –” Yuuta placed a hand over his mouth, bending over as if he were going to be sick. “That’s...I’m…oh my god..I’ve got to rewrite my whole personality now.”

Hah! Funny, considering personality rewrites had been Hinata’s schtick until now...or, no, Hinata knows how it feels to completely rewrite a harmless part of yourself. He’s had the bouts of nausea after forcing himself to eat sugar that his stomach couldn’t Handle. He’s felt the bone numbing fear of doing or liking a “Yuuta thing” in front of his dad. Sometimes, he’ll forget himself, lost in thought over whether he really _is_ anything other than a forced foil to Yuuta. It’s not funny. He can’t let Yuuta experience this.

“Don’t, don’t!! You two get along, don’t you? I’m glad you can talk about fashion with someone who actually _gets_ it.”

Yuuta’s nose was still scrunched up, distaste clear on his face. 

“Don’t give yourself that much credit...your taste, your sense of style, it’s abysmal.” Yuuta huffed, and before he could get started on another “if you could only let me pick out your clothes, Aniki” tirade, Hinata cuts him off.

“Mm, maybe, but it’s fun, isn’t it?~” Yuuta gagged. Literally, actually gagged. Wow.

“There’s nothing fun about wearing triple XL fishing t-shirts tucked into cargo shorts, Aniki.”

“Don’t forget about the fannypack!”

“ _Stop reminding me about the fannypack_.”

“Ooo, you’re using the scary tone! Okay, okay, brownie time it is!”

It was a standard affair, as far as brownie making went. Neither of them were talented enough at baking to make them from scratch, so they settled for boxed mix and various peppery powders pulled from their spice cabinet.

Both of them had to wash brownie batter off of their faces, (if anyone asked, Yuuta started it) but that just made it all the more fun. Admiring their final product, Hinata waited until Yuuta had run upstairs—calling “First one there gets to pick the movie!” as he did so—to place two brownies in a plastic bag, and then put that bag into his schoolbag. 

Hinata giggled to himself as he ran upstairs. 

He hopes Tsukasa is good with spice.

  
  
  


Shuffling his feet together, Hinata steps into the 1-B classroom for the second time in his life. He's only standing fully straight for a few moments—not nearly enough time to survey his surroundings—but Hinata is nothing if not overly dramatic, so once he spots Tsukasa’s maroon hair he knocks the wind out of himself with the force he uses to bow himself forwards.

“Tsukasa-kun!” Hinata shouted. He was ready to begin his speech, but he had to momentarily pause to account for Tsukasa’s surprised spluttering. He gasped and spat like how Hinata imagined a fish out of water would—completely out of its element.

“Tsu-ka-sa-kun!” Hinata emphasized every syllable, his chant of Tsukasa’s name resembling that of a highschool cheerleader, putting his heart and soul into every breath.

“I’m sorry! I thought my prank was funny but clearly you were taken off guard, and also you yelled at my brother for an annoyingly long time because of me! I’m sorry! Please don’t sue!” Hinata pulled out the brownie bag, perfectly innocuous in its simplicity, and shoved it forward, somewhere blindly on Tsukasa’s desk. 

He _was_ still bent in a bow, after all.

“My brother told me you liked sweets, so I made these last night. Please forgive me! And also don’t shout at Yuuta-kun!!”

The air felt heavy around Hinata as he waited for Tsukasa’s reply. He could feel other people’s eyes on his back, the sweat beading at the back of his neck had paused dripping in its own form of anxiety.

“I...ah..um...Hinata-kun..?” Tsukasa’s voice rose, interrupted by a sudden crack. Hinata stayed silent. His core was starting to hurt, but he was used to hurt. He’ll stay in this position for as long as it takes, he won't get up–not until Tsukasa–

“Y-You can get up, now…” Hinata did as Tsukasa asked, straightening himself so he could finally look Tsukasa in the eye. 

Face nearly as red as his hair, Tsukasa looked ridiculous. His eyes were slightly squinted, and his violet irises kept flitting around the room, like he was watching a very exciting tennis match. Except he wasn’t. He was purposefully avoiding Hinata’s gaze, instead fiddling with his uniform sleeve like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Despite all of this, he had the smallest smile on his face, definitively aimed at the brownies sitting smack dab on the middle of Tsukasa’s desk.

Tsukasa closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before he opened them once more, staring directly back at Hinata. 

“Hinata-kun...thank you. You truly went above and beyond, which is certainly admirable.” Tsukasa’s eyes darted back to the brownies on the desk, his thumb gently hovering on a spot where Hinata’s own fingers had smushed the chocolate. “These look _marvelous_. I wouldn’t have taken you for an exceptional baker, but...ah,” He paused, his face scrunching in discontentment. “I shouldn’t...but, to show you my gratitude, I will try one of your treats right now.”

Hinata held his breath. Blank face, blank face...it’s difficult, considering he always _has_ to smile, but wouldn’t a cheesy grin be too suspicious?

Tsukasa pulled the brownie out of its baggie, his long fingers curling around it almost protectively. It was infuriating how gracefully he brought it up to his mouth—he really was perfect, it felt like a smack to Hinata’s own face. His lungs burned, the sweat beading against the back of his neck kept rolling down.

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Hinata was going to die. He must be dying, this is the end—and it's a torturous one at that. What other reason would there be for Tsukasa to draw this out? He’s taunting Hinata on purpose, letting Hinata’s heart beat faster than humanly possible, the sound of his heartbeat akin to the sound of a galloping horse's hooves on the ground. 

Tsukasa took a bite. His smile was what Hinata imagined pure bliss looked like—eyes fluttered closed, smile unforced and carefree. 

And then it changed. His eyes shot open, almost bugging out of his head. His face, that had begun to lose it’s embarrassed flush, was deepening in color again. His eyes scrunched shut again as he started coughing. As his head spun to squint up at Hinata, he jolted. 

It was time for him to go.

Once again, he sprinted out of the door, feet carrying him to his own classroom, and then behind Midori to hide behind, for good measure. 

His phone buzzes.

**Yuuta ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (8:30 am) :** ANIKI.

**Yuuta ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (8:30 am) :** (--_--;) (--_--;) (--_--;)

**Yuuta ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (8:31 am) :** ...his reaction was pretty funny. 

**Yuuta ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (8:32 am) :** DON'T take that as encouragement

Hinata brought his hands up to Midori’s blazer, using it to wipe the sweat off of his hands before replying.

**You (8:p34 am) :** haha!!! it was pretty smart of me, wasnt it?~ ٩̋(๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)

**Yuuta ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (8:36 am) :** pfft whatever...don’t expect for him to fall for it again.

**You (8:42 am) :** eeeh?! (°ロ°) ! who said i was gonna trick him again, huh?! maybe ill catch him by surprise..!

Yuuta didn’t respond after that. It wasn’t a surprise, considering he was always the more studious of the two, preferring to pay attention during class rather than accepting Hinata’s requests for more candy crush lives.

That’s fine, though! Hinata could spend his first class period of the day perfectly content, spending the hour doodling in his notebook, trying to get Tsukasa’s expression _just_ so, the shade of his blush _just_ right, the time flying by as Hinata dedicated himself to capturing the cute scrunch of Tsukasa’s nose.

He might have exaggerated the cheeks a little, because honestly they were what catches Hinata’s eyes the most. Even when Tsukasa was yelling at him after that prank, Hinata couldn’t bring himself to feel scared, Tsukasa’s baby fat combined with his overexaggerated pout was just so _cute._

It’s only natural to want to see that face again. Hinata’s starting to doubt that anyone else on the planet has an angry face as cute as Tsukasa’s, let alone in Yumenosaki.

That would be why he decided to begin his third prank tomorrow.

  
  
  
  


Stupidly simple in its execution, there’s no way this prank could go wrong. There’s no way. Hinata knew this, and yet...that didn’t stop him from getting nervous, body frozen in front of the entrance to 1-B’s classroom.

The prank could fail. That’s okay, that's nothing in the grand scheme of things, but...what’s Tsukasa going to think when he sees him again? Hinata felt weirdly sick at the thought of Tsukasa disliking him. It’s not like he cares about truly making friends here, he’d rather have everyone at an arm's distance anyways. The less people that are worried about him, the better.

His stomach still churned despite the rationalization, rocking like the ocean waves during a sea storm. He didn’t want to face what this could mean, so used to pushing things down that acknowledging what he was feeling felt abnormal, like he’s all alone with his own issues, lost at sea.

The nausea was making his head spin. God. Hinata needed to take a deep breath. To close his eyes, and imagine that he’s somewhere else—with mom, maybe, in a field of flowers. Yuuta’s there, and so is Dad, but he’s smiling, and there’s pride shining in his eyes as he watches his beloved family laugh in the mellow summer heat. Mom taught them how to make flower crowns, he remembers. Going over the steps, Hinata felt his fingers move, weaving imaginary stems to distract himself. He’s fine. It’s okay. The prank will make him feel better, right?

Being mischievous, playing into the little devil act, he enjoyed that. He did. It’s fun, he’s a monster but in a _fun_ way. He’s embracing himself. Isn’t that what self love is? So, pranks! He’ll pull his prank, and he’ll laugh at Tsukasa, and he _won’t_ wish he was making Tsukasa’s face red with a deep blush for any reason other than anger.

He stretched his smile on his face until it hurt, eyes pinched shut to the point where he was seeing colors. His cheek muscles twitched, and Hinata could feel the strain the inside of his mouth took on as he consciously ground his teeth together.

Stepping into 1-B for a third time, Hinata’s eyes instantly locked in on Tsukasa’s.

“Hey~ Tsukasa-chan~”

Tsukasa spluttered, his face was beginning to heat up, a light flush present on the highs of his cheekbones. Despite the instant reaction, he still remained in his seat.

Puffing out his bottom lip, Hinata let out a little sigh. “Heard you didn’t like my treats. That’s kind of mean, you know?~ I spent time making those..” 

Tsukasa slammed his palms against his desk. “You—You purposefully _tainted_ them, you cretin! You’re a disgrace to sweets, for all I care!”

Jaw dropping open slightly, Hinata made sure to tilt his eyebrows downwards, eyes flitting back to the floor and back up to the subject at hand. This look always made Sakuma-senpai bring extra food to the clubroom, so Hinata knew it was pretty pitiful.

“Wow, you’re a pretty brash heir, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you be more polite? Who knows~ maybe I made my treats all pretty on the outside and nasty on the inside to match _you_.” 

Tsukasa finally lifted himself out of his seat, rising to stare at Hinata at his full height. “Th-That’s enough! You better apologize this instant, or I’ll–I’ll—” 

“You’ll what? Get me sued for defamation or something? Well..! Maybe I _won’t._ If you want an apology…” Hinata watched as Tsukasa inhaled, bracing himself for Hinata’s next words.

“...You’ll have to catch me.”

And at that Hinata was zipping out of the classroom, his worn sneakers scuffing across the linoleum of the hallway floors, a sad contrast to the clicks of Tsukasa’s expensive leather dress shoes as he chased after him. Way to perpetuate the class divide, Tsukasa. Even if you look _so_ handsome decked out in all Burberry, Hinata’s still gotta steal his shoes from the dumpster outside of the thrift store. 

Was that unfair? Yes. But Hinata can come up with his own ways to have an advantage, too. Skidding to a stop in front of the Class 1-A entryway, Hinata ducked under the tight layers of plastic wrap he had taped there this morning. Tsukasa didn’t have a chance.

Really, all Hinata had to do was once again hide himself behind his two superhero classmates. 

“Protecting the weak is what you do, right?! Hide me, hide me!!” Hinata yelped, letting out a whoop when Midori and Tetora complied. Go, go Power Rangers, truly. 

It was just in time, too, because as soon as Hinata peeked through his vantage point of the space between Midori’s elbow and Tetora’s ear, he watched Tsukasa slam head first into the transparent plastic. His momentum instantly stopped, Tsukasa fell onto the floor within seconds. From somewhere to the left of him, Hinata heard Hajime gasp. 

He also heard mutterings from Tomoya over whether the great Hibiki-senpai would be foolish enough to fall for such a thing, but Hinata doubted it. The great was in his name, you know, even if Hinata had placed the adjective there himself. He was not above snitching on Tomoya’s half baked stolen plans if it meant protecting a dude as cool as Hibiki-senpai. 

Hibiki-senpai would approve of this, and that’s exactly why he’s an admirable guy. He’s stolen from the rich, Hinata _knows_ he has, he’s seen Hibiki-senpai’s nimble fingers slip the Emperor’s wallet out of his back pocket, right under his own nose.

Hinata probably wouldn’t have been able to live to prevent a prank towards Hibiki-senpai, were it not for the fact that the warning bell had just rang. Tsukasa, now forced to get up and walk back to his own classroom, lest he become Kunugi-sensei’s doormat, did so in a huff, slapping dust off of his shoulders rather than actually brushing it off.

Jeez, Hinata better take a break after this one, let the tensions ease a little. It’s the most rational thing to do, but part of him doesn’t want to part with Tsukasa just yet. Ah, what to do, what to do...to place his new favorite classmate on the backburner already? Just because he was a _little_ scared of actually being sued for libel? 

Hinata couldn’t deal with this right now, instead choosing to text Yuuta a few more random pictures he had saved over the course of last night. Since he was up at the wee hours of the morning, tossing and turning what felt like every other minute, he had gone to his phone for a distraction. He always found things funnier when he was sleep deprived, half of the memes he had saved from twitter made absolutely no sense now that Hinata was awake and alert.

He sent them nonetheless, hoping to at least make Yuuta laugh. A jokester at heart, it’s all Hinata really wanted to do. It’s why he was so focused on Tsukasa, the redhead seemingly unable to actually lighten up. The oddity that was never enjoying a practical joke...Hinata simply could not fathom it.

Maybe he’s just grumpy in the mornings? But, Yuuta had made it sound like he was grumpy all of the time. There’s got to be some kind of prime comedy time, some way Hinata could make Tsukasa laugh and get over his weird fixation on him. 

The puzzle pieces seemed to all click into place a moment later, when his phone buzzed. Yuuta had texted him back.

Yuuta. Had _texted_ him back. In response to the memes he had saved at three am. 

Without even glancing at Yuuta’s reply, Hinata’s thumbs slid across his keyboard, near frantic in their revelation. He _needed_ Tsukasa’s number.

  
  
  
  
  


3:23 am.

Hinata had picked as random of a time as possible. It would make it easier, having a set schedule at a meaningless time to really emphasize that there’s no rational reason for Tsukasa getting texts this late.

**You (3:23 am) :** vomitcat.png

**You (3:24 am) :** u

**You (3:24 am) :** lol ꉂ(σ▰˃̶̀ꇴ˂̶́)σ

**You (3:28 am) :** whentheguccistoreisclosed.png

**You (3:29 am) :** picked this one bc youre rich. do u get it

Snickering to himself, Hinata propped his head up with his hand, slender knuckles pushing into the skin of his cheek. Waking up at such an odd time still had him a little drowsy, if he laid down on his pillow he’d fall back asleep in an instant. 

It shouldn’t take long for Tsukasa to respond, though, and then Hinata could jump right back into sleeping. Really, who could possibly sleep through five loud notifications?

….Tsukasa could, apparently. 

Hinata had spent hours staying up and waiting for Tsukasa’s reply, to no avail. 

Even now, four hours later as he groggily attempted to brush his teeth—pausing every few seconds to slap himself lightly across the face, he couldn’t have himself falling asleep into the sink—Tsukasa had yet to respond.

Hinata was about to call it quits, ready to snap and delete Tsukasa’s contact from his phone, when _finally_ his phone buzzed.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (7:05 am) :** Who is this?!?! 

**You (7:06 am) :** who do u think richboy

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (7:07 am) :** I have no idea!!! Did you find my number from the media?! Tell me immediately!

**You (7:07 am) :** chill lol

**You (7:08 am) :** i go to ur school

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (7:10 am) :**...Well, alright! But you should have asked me for my number yourself.

**You (7:11 am) :** can i ask for your wallet instead

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (7:12 am) :** I had decided to ignore your first two comments but you must cease your classisst remarks right now!!

The fury with which Hinata pressed his phone's power button was only slightly exaggerated.

Tsukasa had better be ready tonight.

  
  
  
  
  


3:23 am. _Again_.

Those few hours of sleep Hinata had caught called to him temptingly. He spent the entire day in a tired daze, which was only relieved around lunchtime when Sakuma-senpai let him nap in his coffin rather than eat in the cafeteria. Going without food was normal, Hinata’s sleep being interrupted was not.

The only thing stopping him from continuing to hit snooze was spite. He is </i>going</i> to make Tsukasa laugh. Hinata’s not giving up when he’s this far gone. He won’t let himself fail this easily, if Hinata were a quitter he would have given up way before he had even come to Yumenosaki.

**You (3:23 am) :** heyyyy kasa

**You (3:24 am) :** guillotinefunny.png

**You (3:24 am) :** cryingcat.png

**You (3:25 am) :** elmuchacho.vod

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:26 am) :** Do you not get any sleep?!

**You (3:27 am) :** nah, im staying awake just for you~

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:27 am) :** Not funny. 

**You (3:28 am) :** my reply or the memes?

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:29 am) :** Both. 

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:30 am) :** I’m going back to sleep. I advise you to do the same.

**You (3:32 am) :** boooo youre no fun (ﾉ￣д￣)ﾉ

Hinata waited a few minutes...still no reply from Tsukasa. Ugh. Guess the jerk had gone to sleep after all.

Oh well, Hinata sent a few more borderline incomprehensible memes before deciding to shut his phone off and join Tsukasa in sleep. 

..Hmph. His sheets were probably silk. If no one else was going to disrupt this luxury, then the job had rightfully fallen into Hinata’s hands. Speaking of his hands, they were currently curled into his ratty blanket he had bought from the second-hand store. Beneath his balled up fists were threads on their last end, stringy and frayed. Hinata pulled the blanket over his head, and instead of being fully submerged in the dark, patches of moonlight shone through the miscellaneous holes in his blanket. 

Whatever, it was time for him to get to sleep. 

  
  
  
  
  


Hinata opened his eyes to his own face staring back at him, eyebrows furrowed and cheeks puffed out. Aghh, he didn’t want to deal with Yuuta’s complaints right now. Closing his eyes again, Hinata rolled onto his side away from Yuuta, his knees knocking against the constraining walls of the coffin as he did so. 

Maroon velvet felt soft underneath his fingers, and when Hinata buried his face into the black pillow cover, the scent of cinnamon swirled around him. He felt his body relax once again, mind at ease. It smelled just like Sakuma-senpai, and worked just like his presence normally would. Hinata couldn't help but yearn to be cared for, to be protected, and nothing was more of the epitome than that of Sakuma-senpai letting him sleep safely, without worry. 

Really, the only thing that reminded him of Yuuta’s presence was the low breathing coming from above him.

“Aniki,” Yuuta paused, and Hinata scrunched his eyes closed tighter, somehow hoping that the action would get Yuuta to stop.

“Is there a reason why you’re still bombarding my classmate?” 

“Mmm, why do you ask?” Opening his eyes, Hinata finally rolled onto his back to look at Yuuta.

“This morning he decided to talk to me about this mysterious number texting him at 3am.” Yuuta leaned down, emphasizing the end of his sentence with a light karate chop to the crown of Hinata’s head.

“Well, why do you think that’s me? It could be a demon, the witching hour, y’know?”

Yuuta snatched his arm back like Hinata was a hot stove, skin already paler than it was mere seconds ago.

“Don’t even joke about that, that’s just terrifying...Besides, you asked me for his number.”

Hinata stuck his bottom lip out at Yuuta, sure that from this angle Hinata’s puppy dog eyes would work. They always made people hand out pity like it was free.

“Well, if you knew what my intentions were then why did you give me his number?”

Yuuta sighs. 

“I _didn’t_ know your intentions. I thought you were gonna, like, ask him out!”

Choking on his own spit, Hinata shot up out of the coffin like his life depended on it.

“Wh-What do you mean ask him out?! I don’t—he sucks! He’s like, all snooty and rich...and he has a bad sense of humor! There’s–there’s no _way_ I—”

“Mmmhm.” Yuuta’s face was blank from his position of hovering slightly above the ground. For someone so used to panicking, he really did not seem to care at all that Hinata was shaking him by the lapels of his school blazer. 

“I—Yuuta…” Hinata dragged the last syllable of his name, whining like a dog that felt like it wasn’t getting enough attention. Yuuta didn’t reply, he instead chose to continue staring blankly into Hinata’s eyes. 

Hinata groaned, finally dropping his hands from Yuuta’s jacket.

“I don’t even feel like napping anymore!”

“Good. Lunch is almost over, anyways.”

“Waugh..! So cruel, Yuuta…” Hinata sank to the ground, allowing his head to rest against the cold mahogany of the coffin. Less than five minutes later the chime of the school bells rang against his ears. Yuuta lightly nudged him with his foot, and Hinata whined, his moment of reprieve gone. 

  
  
  
  
  


Another night, another couple memes saved to send to Tsukasa.

Hinata wasn’t as bone raggedly tired as he was last night, but it was still jarring to wake up after only a few hours of sleeping.

He hadn’t slept all that well, either. Throughout the entire second half of classes, as well as the rest of his night, thoughts of Tsukasa had been lingering in the back of Hinata’s mind. Yuuta was probably just being an idiot, but Hinata couldn’t deny that he was the more emotionally adept of the two. To add onto that, Yuuta was the one who had crush after crush during their childhood, while growing up Hinata hadn’t had any. Too busy focusing on performing and taking care of his younger brother, he hadn’t even considered things like romance or types.

Now that he was finally in a semi-stable position, it’d make sense for him to be relaxed enough to… _ugh_ , have a crush.

Yuuta must be wrong about Tsukasa, though. All Hinata felt towards him was pure spite. The desire for a rivalry, the desire to con him out of a few dollars, the desire to make him _laugh_...pure spite.

Pushing the center of his palms into his eyes, Hinata forced himself to be fully awake. It was time to text Tsukasa and—oh my god. 

Hinata was five minutes late.

He typed quickly, picking whatever image he had saved most recently. He can’t believe Tsukasa had thrown him off his rhythm...again!

There was nothing he could do about it now, though, so Hinata instead dedicated himself to sending text after text, not even waiting for the first message to go through before sending his second, his third, and so on.

**You (3:28 am) :** hiiii. youll never guess what i was busy doing lol...got some more jokes for ya!

**You (3:29 am) :** whentheeichihits.png

**You (3:29 am) :** izumi.jpg

**You (3:30 am) :** immarriedtomyti84.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:32 am) :** Seriously, are you nocturnal?!

**You (3:33 am) :** i am called a child of the night sometimes lmfao

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:34 am) :** Well, I’m not!

**You (3:34 am) :** i know lol

**You (3:35 am) :** 3amhitsdifferent.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:36 am) :** I still don’t understand…

**You (3:36 am) :** mhm. its exactly why im texting u rn...trying 2 fix ur funnybone

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:37 am) :** The funny bone has nothing to do with humor.

**You (3:38 am) :** undertale.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:40 am) :** Ugh! I will find a way to beat you…

**You (3:41 am) :** at...texting? not everything has to be a competition, kasa~ (☛´∀｀*)☛

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:43 am) :** Sounds like something a quitter would say. (:<

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:44 am) :**...Did I do it right?

**You (≧艸≦*) (3:45 am) :** sure, buddy.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:46 am) :** Hmph. I will ask Narukami-senpai for emoticon etiquette tomorrow.

**You (3:46 am) :** ooo ive got a meme for that

**You (3:47 am) :** richpplstruggles.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:48 am) :** Well, at least I understand this one.

**You (3:50 am) :** that just means youre the butt of the joke, kasa ू(ʚ̴̶̷́ .̠ ʚ̴̶̷̥̀ ू)

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:52 am) :** So that means...I can send it to Tori and laugh at him when he understands as well?

**You (3:53 am) :** sure, feel free to go crazy in the heirs group chat

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:55 am) :** Aha! Thank you for sharing, then, anonymous texter!

**You (3:55 am) :** thats the best youve got? 

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:56 am) :** Well, I don’t know your name!!

**You (3:56 am) :** hmm~ ill reveal it when you beat me at my own game, huh?

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:57 am) :** Huh? What could that possibly mean?

**You (3:58 am) :** oh, you know~ (; anyways, toodle-oo, ill ttyl kasa!

  
  
  
  
  


Hinata bounced on the balls of his feet, a half hearted effort to ease the tension out of his body. Today’s part time job was to hand out promotional flyers for the upcoming SS Live. He wasn’t too pleased about having to purposefully throw the live, but it was near impossible to come up with a counterargument to Sakuma-senpai’s plan.

With the Emperor still in charge, there was more of a probability of 2wink garnering as much attention as those poor bunnies—aka: none. Hinata still cringed at the total sweep through Akatsuki had during that live. Hell, he had even checked out of his ticket booth job early out of sheer second hand embarrassment for the four, and Hinata always strived to get as many overtime hours as possible. At least following Sakuma-senpai’s order, 2wink could gain some social media coverage, which is more than they’d get if they played fair and square.

Hm, maybe the live wouldn’t be too bad, after all. The bounty of restless energy Hinata had needed to be let out somehow, but currently Hinata was too busy ignoring his red haired coworker. The feat was getting harder as the seconds ticked by— _seriously_ , why was he here? It’s not money, Knights has a lot of that already. It’s also not the desire to work, as Tsukasa felt the need to let out an audible sigh every thirty seconds, face minisculely squinching every so often as he tried to stave off a glare.

Not that Hinata’s complaining about Tsukasa scaring away his potential customers—they’re all making a beeline towards Hinata’s window instead—but it was awkward having to pretend like he didn’t hear Tsukasa’s repetitive groans of sorrow.

It was only after a lull in customers that Hinata decided to ask the question burning his mind.

“Why are you here?”

Tsukasa whirled over to face him, the distance between them that used to span a few yards shortening by the millisecond. 

“Why are _you_ here?” 

Hinata blinked. Of all the responses to expect, he sure wasn’t thinking Tsukasa was going to parrot his own question back at him. If only it weren’t such an obtuse question warranting Hinata’s annoyance, because seriously, wasn’t it obvious?

“I’m working, dude! My unit’s not loaded like yours. If we want a fancy stage to dance on, we’ve gotta put in some elbow grease~” It hurt a little to sugar-up his response, Hinata could feel the cavities in his teeth beginning to form. Another reason for Tsukasa to be on his hit list—he had enough jacked up teeth to begin with, and no dental insurance to be seen.

Tsukasa just grit his teeth, his arms crossed as he kicked needlessly at the dirt beneath them.

Hinata could hear the faint utterances of “So Narukami-senpai was right…” clearly not meant for him to overhear, but if there’s one thing Hinata hated more than the thrift stores upping their prices, or when Yuuta was clearly hiding something from him,  or his dad , it was not being in the loop.

“Hmm?~ Whaddya say?”

Tsukasa’s scowl deepened. 

“I _said_ that my senpai was right. She told me that if I wanted to experience the life of a commoner, I’d have to try my hand at a minimum wage job.”

And wow, wasn’t that a whole load of garbage to unpack? Like any necessary airport experience, Hinata was going to make sure Tsukasa’s luggage got lost in transit.

Not catching the ‘don’t speak to me ever again’ aura Hinata was trying to radiate, Tsukasa continued.

“All I wanted was help with those...those emoticons! But she seemed to think I should try other things average teenagers do as well.”

“You're at a part time job...because you didn’t know how to use emojis.”

Head tilted back, Tsukasa shouted in frustration, taking his anger out on the dusk sky.

“I know! They all keep looking at me funny when I showed them my texts, too, like it should be obvious.”

“The emojis?”

“No! The identity of my new acquaintance!”

Oh my god. 

Kicking the part of himself that preened at acquaintances into the sandbox, Hinata focused on the most important part of that statement: Tsukasa really didn’t know it was him.

Hinata was in too deep. It’d be a cowardly move to pull out now, though, so—

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“It's nothing, I’ve just had to...rearrange my nightly routine for someone.”

Pfft, yeah. Tsukasa had better do that. If Hinata had to experience another sleepless night due to Tsukasa sleeping through his messages, a crime would be committed, reputation as an idol be damned. 

...Or, scratch that, Hinata couldn’t go through with harming the smile Tsukasa shot him, the gentle curve to his eyes paired with his dimples every bit representing the knight he was.

“Thank you for listening to my frustrations, Hinata-kun. You made this work experience somewhat bearable.”

Hinata was too shell shocked to respond, body frozen, brain working in overdrive trying to process why Tsukasa was being nice to him all of the sudden. By the time he had opened his mouth to quip back a response, Tsukasa was long gone, and the ticket stall was illuminated by the moonlight.

Distantly, Hinata heard the ear shattering ‘kyaaaa’s of UNDEAD’s fans. He couldn’t come up with anything else to compare his feelings to, other than that. How embarrassing.

  
  
  
  
  


Hinata woke up to the sound of a text alert before he woke up to the sound of his alarm.

Reaching out for his phone in a panic, Hinata’s hand slapped all over his bedside table, not stopping until he grabbed it.

The bright light was a shock to his eyes, but Hinata squinted and dealt with it. Who could possibly be texting him this late at night?

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:20 am) :** Aha! I have bested you today.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:20 am) :** Not only that, but I have saved some memes that remind me of my friends!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:21 am) :** sleepingminion.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:21 am) :** princessminion.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:21 am) :** partyanimalminion.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:22 am) :** wineandhomicideminion.png

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:23 am) :** How do you like that?

Hinata’s gonna blame the fact that he laughed at a _minion meme_ on lack of sleep induced hysteria. Breezing past that, Hinata had to give Tsukasa credit. It was a little insulting that Tsukasa had managed to make him laugh before Hinata could make him, but not only had he beaten Hinata in that regard, he’d beat Hinata’s time as well.

**You (3:24 am) :** woooow! kasa beat me!!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:25 am) :** Yes! I guess you could say I did >:)

**You (3:25 am) :** i juuust said that! silly tsukasa~~

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:27 am) :** Your quirky typing won’t distract me now, you fiend. What is your name?

**You (3:28 am) :** aw, rats! 

**You (3:28 am) :** would you care to guess..?

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:29 am) :** My unitmates seem to think you’re the elder Aoi. I’m inclined to agree, given how he chooses to spend his time with me.

Hinata dropped his phone, despair overcoming him. Sure, he hadn’t tried to change his act, but was it really that obvious? Did Tsukasa think he wasn’t funny now? Hinata could show him funny!

**You (3:31 am) :** …...no<3

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:31 am) :** _Then who are you????_

Oh, nevermind. The gag may still be on, but for some reason Hinata didn’t feel as reassured as he thought he should be. Maybe throwing Tsukasa a bone would help..?

**You (3:32 am) :** well...im not hinata. im actually-

**You (3:32 am) :** *drumroll*

**You (3:33 am) :** the secret aoi triplet...dinata!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:35 am) :** Oh, okay.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (3:36 am) :** You’re almost as bad as your rascal of a brother!

**You (3:38 am) :** isleep.png

There was no other way to respond to this. Hinata needed sleep. He didn’t know how to cope with the idea that Tsukasa was really this gullible.

  
  
  
  
  


Hinata _really_ didn’t know how to approach the elephant in the room—or, the text messages in his case. Was Tsukasa just playing along? No, no, that couldn’t be it, he doesn’t have that sense of humor. Was Tsukasa just that gullible? Entertaining that idea made Hinata want to scream. 

He had ignored Tsukasa’s questioning messages last night, instead choosing to sandwich his head between his pillow, tempted to just smother himself until he lost consciousness.

R.I.P Hinata Aoi, died after a prank gone wrong.

It’d be too weird to go back on what he said now, right? He didn’t want to continue to play along, he would rather text Tsukasa as himself, but it seems like acting as Dinata is his only choice.

His phone buzzed.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (7:05 am) :** So, Dinata, if Hinata is pink, and Yuuta is blue, what is your color?

Slamming his phone back on the counter, Hinata could feel another crack appearing on the busted screen. Not only was Tsukasa forgoing the sanctity of only texting one another at night, it was now more apparent than it already was that Tsukasa believed Hinata.

He’s really got to learn to think before he speaks, he needs to cut this act off now, or else. He needs to—

**You (7:08 am) :** Neon green. Like toxic waste, or the color of Oogami-Senpai’s face when he sees Ritsu-senpai’s cooking.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (7:09 am) :** Haha, his face does turn that color!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (7:10 am) :** I do think green is lovely, though. It reminds me of life, plants blossoming and thriving. You sure have made my life a lot more lively, Dinata-kun. (:

God. What could Hinata even say in response to that?

Taking a deep breath, he shut off his phone. Maybe Tsukasa was just playing a long con on him. Really, that must be it. It’s definitely the response Hinata deserves, after all.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Days had passed, and much to Hinata’s demise, Tsukasa still stood firm in his belief that Dinata Aoi was a real person.

Hinata got texted during class, during lunch, during work, and _especially_ during the middle of the night. The homage to Hinata’s worst decision ever could have been cute, were it not for the fact that Tsukasa seems to like Dinata more than Hinata himself. 

And ok, Hinata knows he’s the one who made this mess, so he’s the one who should reap the consequences, but it still felt like a slap to the face every time Hinata was reminded that Tsukasa wasn’t texting him, but rather an impostor. What drove Hinata even more wild was the fact that _he_ had fun texting Tsukasa, meanwhile all Tsukasa could do was wax poetic about Hinata’s fake triplet. 

Really, if Hinata could go back on this, he would. After Tsukasa texts him one afternoon, however, Hinata realizes that this brief period was, in fact, the good old days. 

Hinata had just arrived home from the few restless hours he had spent organizing Yumenosaki’s food in storage. Glancing down at his phone, Hinata finally turned off the do not disturb function, already inputting his password to see what Tsukasa had texted him. 

Hinata’s body felt heavy at the realization that Tsukasa was, in fact, texting him at any possible moment. His leadened stomach churned more each time Hinata thought about how he had to put controls on his phone to stop himself from responding to Tsukasa’s texts instantly, especially during work.

Sending pictures back and forth, getting to know each other, it’s all the two had done over the past week. The thought of telling Tsukasa more trivial lies was now unpalatable to Hinata. It tasted like how sweets had at first, overwhelming and only causing to make Hinata feel sick after a single bite.

So when he answered Tsukasa’s pressing questions, like ‘what’s your favorite animal?’ or ‘do you have a favorite food?’ Hinata told Tsukasa about his old childhood favorites, the ones he had to forgo to individualize himself. Technically, Hinata wasn’t even lying! These traits _were_ a part of himself, they had just remained dormant as Hinata focused on creating the polar opposite personality compared to his brother’s. 

Being able to acknowledge these traits was nice, so nice to the point that Hinata had allowed himself to respond embarrassingly quickly, not even waiting a few minutes before he sends his eager replies to Tsukasa.

Talking to Tsukasa was becoming a normality in Hinata’s life, like his cat Miku cuddling with him every night, or sleeping in Sakuma-senpai’s coffin during every lunch break. Hinata supposed he could live with being Dinata, so long as it meant he could still talk to Tsukasa. 

So long...as he could...still talk to Tsukasa...the same Tsukasa who had just messaged him this:

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (4:36 pm) :** Would it be possible for me to meet you, Dinata-kun?

Hinata was frozen. There was no _way_ he could say yes, Dinata wasn’t real! The thought of rejecting Tsukasa wasn’t a pleasant one, but Hinata tried to keep a steady head as he typed out his response, proofreading his message over and over making sure it looked normal.

**You (5:24 pm) :** ah, sorry! but i cant...(｡•́︿•̀｡)

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:26 pm) :** It doesn’t have to be very grand! We could just meet before class, as if I remember correctly, you said you went to my school?

God, okay. Hinata was just going to have to lie again. This is fine, Hinata’s a great liar. Yuuta doesn’t know he’s working, his classmates don’t know they’re not actually friends, Hinata can lie to Tsukasa. It’ll be easy, It’ll be fine. Lies should come naturally to a monster.

**You (5:28 pm) :** ….sorry, i lied about that. i actually dont go to school, i just live vicariously through my brothers’ stories

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:30 pm) :** Oh, I’m so sorry Dinata-kun. I understand if its a sore subject, but if I may ask...where do you spend most of your time?

**You (5:31 pm) :** oh, they keep me locked in the basement.

What an awful lie. It should be read as an instant red flag, a stark falsity insistent on standing out. The insanity of it all made Hinata want to laugh, because really, who spends their time locked in basements? He’s got to focus on the deranged nature on the claim, rather than the sick feeling in his stomach. With the strength he reserves for his part time jobs at warehouses, Hinata forcibly flattens the thought that is trying to come to surface:

If there actually was a third triplet, would his dad have resorted to that? Two’s company, but three’s a crowd, and with the way he so casually brought down children...

Nope! Nuh-uh. He rips the thought in half, and then in half again, and _again_ , as if by forever making it smaller it would somehow disappear forever.

This was just a joke. Dinata didn’t exist. Hinata doesn’t have another brother, he doesn't need to feel so protective over a ghost. He wouldn’t feel a sense of responsibility over him, because he shouldn’t. He’s not real.

Like roadkill during rush hour, it then hits Hinata that Tsukasa still thinks Dinata is very much real.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:31 pm) :**?! Hello?!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:31 pm) :** Dinata-kun?!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:32 pm) :** You must not be serious that’s—

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:33 pm) :** Ohhh that’s just awful Dinata-kun, don’t let it be real...

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:34 pm) :** Why would they—How…?

**You (5:36 pm) :** wooahhh kasa calm down!! (❁°͈▵°͈) i’m fine! so~rry about the wording, my room is just in the basement! i’m pretty powerful so it’s only natural i keep it contained (〃⌒∇⌒)

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:36 pm) :**... You’re certain?

**You (5:37 pm) :** yep! it’s like my own little man cave, it’s perfect for me!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:38 pm) :** Ah...I’m glad to hear that, at least.

**You (5:38 pm) :** yeah

**You (5:40 pm) :** and not 2 get serious (blegh! ‧∘˳°∗˚(⁎›ˍູ‹) ∗.∘˚˳°) but.. thank you for the concern. youre way kinder than i first thought, tsukasa

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (5:41 pm) :** Thank you, Dinata. I’ve come to deeply appreciate our friendship. It’s why I may have jumped the gun on meeting you. I haven’t had many friends my age other than Tori-kun.

Guilt coursed through Hinata’s veins like a poison. His limbs felt heavier than they normally were, and his stomach turned in understanding, his sympathy for Tsukasa towing the line of hurting himself in the process.

He shouldn’t do it. He shouldn’t, but, Hinata knew all too well how loneliness could weigh on someone over time. He also knew that a sad Tsukasa felt wrong, it made Hinata’s fingers itch to prop his head up, to prevent Tsukasa’s crown from falling. This was a bad decision. Hinata doesn’t care.

**You (5:48 pm) :** i would hate for kasa to be lonely without me! ੨( ･᷄ ︵･᷅ )ｼ ill see what i can do~

  
  
  
  
  


The low buzz of the convenience store lights kept Hinata alert. Aside from that low thrum the place was silent. Hinata had half a mind to start pacing, both to make some more noise and to also displace the restlessness that’s settled into his bones. He was overthinking this for sure. 

In his hands were two pairs of green headphones. His left held one that had more yellow undertones, his right held ones with blue. Such a miniscule difference shouldn’t matter in the slightest, but Hinata was torn.

Dinata. Should he be warm or cool? Vibrant or gloomy? Loud or quiet? Energetic or passive? Should he just act like Hinata? Or should he be himself? Dinata had become the amalgamation of his current persona and his true self. Should he do that? Should he be open about it? A quiet Hinata is out of character. A Hinata that shares interests with Yuuta is bad and hard to tell apart and ends up getting _hurt_. He’s made the mistake of revealing these parts of himself, and lest he disappoint Tsukasa, he can’t retcon them.

Hinata shouldn't have multiple facets. He needs to be the one note, tried and true version of himself: happy, carefree, jokester, older brother. The safe Hinata. The palatable to the public Hinata. This is the acceptable version, the other parts deemed unnecessary. Maybe some people didn’t mind hearing about other people’s problems, but when it came to Hinata’s, his was unwanted. 

No one wanted to be around someone who was as numb as Hinata all the time. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fit the human standards of normal. Hinata’s good at pretending, though, so it’s fine.

He’s so good at pretending, the proof in the way that he forces himself to breeze through the aisles, fingernails clacking against the plastic of lime green hair clips. The sound of glass knocking against each other joins the buzzing lights as Hinata throws in nail polish bottles. Waterlily, mint candy apple, emerald blaze, all different names for the exact same color, much like Hinata and his new counterpart. Should he alter his uniform, too? Cardigans didn’t fit Hinata’s brand, but…

The chill in his bones was deep set now, not wavering even during the sunniest days. Part of Hinata longed to say he missed warmth, but when was the last time he had truly felt it? The display of cardigans were cohesive yet not, varying in color, length, and thickness, however they all came together to complete the collection. A soft, cream colored one caught his eye. It felt almost identical to the one Sakuma-senpai wore, and just that was enough to compel Hinata to purchase it.

If only Tsukasa is going to see it, then going off brand probably isn’t a big deal. He still willingly talks to Dinata, anyways. Hinata can indulge a little, no one else needs to know. If Yuuta can spend hours at a time daydreaming about his crushes, and Sakuma-senpai can invite Hakaze-senpai into his unit, and Oogami-senpai can drop thousands of yen on a new guitar he doesn’t need, then Hinata can be honest while playing pretend.

Rather than feeling the dread he normally felt while paying a bill, Hinata’s chest felt light. Working part time had given him lots of extra money, it’s only natural to want to buy something for himself sometimes. Hinata knew this, and yet something still didn’t feel right. 

His eyes glossed over the things near the checkout counter. Fidget toys, chocolate bars, gift cards...Hinata’s eyes narrowed in on a bag of ghost pepper chips.

“Umm, excuse me, can I add this to my purchase as well..?” Hinata fumbled through his question, unsure of how to speak when his personality wasn’t dialed to eleven. Nevertheless, he reached to his right for the bag, and then after a moment of thought, grabbed a second one. The cashier said nothing, swiping the bags over the barcode scanner mindlessly. Hinata paid the extra fee, and then thanked the cashier with a smile.

What kind of brother would he be if he didn’t get a treat for Yuuta too?

  
  
  
  
  


Electric green thumbs tapped anxiously on the homescreen of his phone. Swiping through the pages of his apps, clicking on one, and then immediately swiping out was how Hinata chose to spend his time. Sick of sticking to one task for so long, the restless part of his mind wanted to look anywhere but his phone. The floor, the doorway, the nameplate engraved with the markings of “Class 1-B”, labelling this room as the one Tsukasa was waiting for him in. 

He felt stupid. How was he even expecting this to work? He looked essentially the same, a copy paste of Hinata with the color palette shifted. Pulling a page out of Isara-senpai’s book, his bangs were pinned back atop his head, the amount of different green hair clips he used resembling the decora fashion he saw on his instagram feed. The cardigan was warmer than the cups of hot chocolate he was used to making for Yuuta and himself around Christmas time, and he wasn’t even wearing his school blazer over it. That remained hidden in his bag, wrapped around a nearly empty bottle of nail polish remover. Dinata didn’t go to school, after all, so it’d be weird for him to wear the Yumenosaki uniform. His lime green headphones had long stopped playing music, the added noise had made Hinata feel as jittery as he’d be if he had drank four energy drinks in a row. 

Tsukasa was waiting for him, but as soon as he saw Hinata it would be obvious, wouldn’t it? He knew he and Yuuta looked similar as twins, but once you got up close there were many differences. Hinata’s eyes were upturned and wider, he had a light spattering of freckles on the bridge of his nose that, unlike Yuuta, he didn’t bother covering up with foundation. His teeth were sort of crooked, and his ears had more piercings than Yuuta did, each one filled with an earring that had some shade of green in it. He knew that Dinata was supposed to look similar to them, but not like a carbon copy of Hinata with no traces of Yuuta to be seen.

His hands lead him to his messenger app, yet again, but this time Hinata paused. Tsukasa was typing, three little dots appearing by his side of the screen as he did so.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (8:20 am) :** Are you running late? 

Hinata took a deep breath, then another, but no matter how many he took, his hands refused to stop shaking fully. 

**You (8:22 am) :** nno, im here. im outside, actualky. have bene for a whjle.

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (8:23 am) :** Are you alright?

**You (8:24 am) :** hmmm? imm fime!~

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (8:25 am) :** Ahhh, are you nervous?

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (8:26 am) :** That’s fine, I can come to you, you said you were outside?

**You (8:26 am) :** hhdgwhYSYWTAHSN 

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (8:27 am) :**?! Do you need help?!

**Tsukasa (≧艸≦*) (8:28 am) :** I am on my way!!!

Before Hinata could say anything else, The door to 1-B slid open, and out stepped a semi-frazzled looking Tsukasa. He looked to his left towards the open expanse of the hallway before looking right, and finally locking eyes with Hinata.

“Dinata-kun!” Tsukasa’s eyes softened, and Hinata was going to die. He probably looked so dumb right now: bug-eyed, sweating, and distinctly _Hinata_ , but if Tsukasa saw through his costume he didn’t say anything about it.

“Hi, Tsukasa-kun.” Hinata dragged out the last syllable of his hello for far too long, nerves making him tack on an awkward chortle of a laugh to the end of his greeting. Oh my god. He’s seen Tsukasa before. He’s talked to Tsukasa before. He’s pied Tsukasa in the face before, and yet his heart is beating with the speed of a jackrabbit just by standing here in front of him.

“I- Ah,” Tsukasa was frozen for a moment, he just stood there staring at Hinata. “Your hair...I-I really like it.” 

“Aww, cat got your tongue, Tsukasa-kun?” Hinata just barely stuck his tongue out. Tsukasa may not have caught on yet, but Hinata’s teeth were probably the most distinct part about himself, and he wanted Tsukasa to at least enjoy himself once before he eventually finds out the truth and blocks Hinata on everything. 

“No! I’m just…” Tsukasa paused again, scratching lightly at his chin while he thought. “Excited. I’m excited, and I’m very happy to see you.”

“Jeez, you keep on buttering me up, huh...well, it’s nice to see you too.”

“Do I look different than what you expected?” Tsukasa looked almost smug while saying that, although Hinata couldn’t fathom why. 

“Sena-senpai said you’d probably be picturing a loser.” ...Ah. that would be why.

“Mm, no, you look exactly what I expected.”

Tsukasa's jaw dropped open, mouth sputtering as he began to speak. 

“Wh-You- I am _not_ a loser-!”

“What?! Huh? No, no, no, when did I say you were a—I just meant like, you’re famous! I’ve seen your face! In magazines, in interviews, in fancams on twitter!” Hinata’s arms flailed in front of him as he spoke, like somehow karate chopping the air would make the loser claims dissipate. 

“Oh.” Tsukasa’s demeanor quieted after he heard that, expression calm again but face still blushed red. “I. Forgot. That my face was well known, I mean. Jumping to conclusions was, ah, rather… ‘cringe’ of me.”

“It’s fine! It’s fine, I promise! The real embarrassment here was that last sentence. Who taught you that?”

“Hm? Ritsu-senpai did. Why, did I misuse the phrase?” Does Tsukasa know he pouts when he’s confused? Hinata allowed himself a few seconds of staring before dragging his eyes away, forcing himself to look at some ugly clock in the wall instead.

“No, you used it right. It’s just not a word I’d expect you to use.”

“Well, with the emoticon lessons I’ve also been learning other teen things!”

Ohhh, right. Teenager lessons. That’s why Tsukasa had been at the part time job.

“Huh? How did you know that?”

“I- You- Uhhh..” Shit, why of all the things to say, did Hinata have to say _that_ one out loud? “..Hinata talked about it at dinner?” He said the phrase slowly, piecing the lie together insanely poorly. This is it. This is the end for him-

“Oh, yes, that would make sense.” Hinata didn’t say anything, rendered speechless at the fact that Tsukasa still believed him. Has the man never been lied to in his life? But then Tsukasa was scratching the back of his head, shooting Hinata the most sheepish smile he had ever seen. “I hope he didn’t say anything too bad, my behavior that day was very…” 

“Grumpy?” Hinata finished the sentence for him, instinctively laughing at how embarrassed Tsukasa looked. 

“Yes, exactly that. It was before I had gotten used to waking early to talk to you, after all.” 

“Mhm~ You’d be so much more well rested if it weren’t for me, huh?”

“Ah, but then who would I talk to all day? Talking to you has made everyone else seem less funny in comparison.” Hinata’s poor little hummingbird heart couldn’t take it, and his pulse only quickened when Tsukasa gave him his signature knightly smile. 

“Oooh, you’re really trying to butter me up, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know, am I? It’s terribly easy to do, after all...”

“Stop being so good at speaking! You’re gonna inflate my ego if you keep on going, you’re too good at being princely.” And Hinata’s heart, but that was left unspoken, considering it would eventually end up popping like a balloon.

Tsukasa perked up at that, his soft cheeks curling up into a wide grin. Hinata couldn’t really explain why, but it made him feel like a slice of apple pie. Warm, buttery, soft, and sort of flakey (which _can_ be blamed on the faux triplet), having Tsukasa smile at him like this felt good.

The moment he was dreading became one that he didn’t want to have an end, but it did. The warning bell rang, and Tsukasa slowly stood up from his seat. His smile was smaller now, and it fell completely when he turned to face the expecting classroom door. But before he walked inside, he turned to face Hinata once again. 

“Dinata-kun, let’s meet again, okay? I had fun today, even if i wish we didn’t have to part so soon.”

“Well, duuuh! I had fun too, I’m pretty bad at not being serious, but you’re a really good friend, Kasa-kun~” Tsukasa’s smile grew again, his hand hesitating on the door handle.

“Well, in that case, I may just be a rebel today and answer your texts during class.”

And then he was gone, and Hinata was left scrambling to turn back into himself, and he was cold again.

  
  
  
  
  


Hinata needed a nap. After the meeting, his morning had been a mess. Hinata had run to the bathroom after Tsukasa’s dismissal, hurriedly pulling his blazer and the nail polish remover out of his bag. Even now, halfway through the day, Hinata still reeked of acetone. When he eventually gave into the urge to stop pretending to pay attention during class, he couldn’t rest his hand on his face during class like he normally did, the scent overbearing in its acidity. Even when he shoved his hands as far down and away from him as possible, he could _still_ smell it, because during his hastiness to get the polish off, he had spilled some of the bottle onto his blazer. 

The scent made his head hurt, and Hinata always felt better after a nap in Sakuma-san’s coffin, so instead of staying in his classroom and eating there, he skipped on over to the light music clubroom. Hell, Hinata could probably end up conniving him out of his own blazer, considering Sakuma-senpai doesn't even attend his own classes most of the time. 

Peering around the door entryway, Hinata could see Sakuma-senpai struggling to sit up inside of his coffin. One hand curled around the side wall, whilst the other was bent behind him, pushing lightly into the small of his back. His shoulders rolled forward, improving his posture, but his face still looked less than alert, eyes half closed and mouth stretched open into a yawn. It sort of reminded Hinata of his grandpa, or what he could remember about his grandpa, anyways. He hadn’t visited either of them in over a decade, so he’s not too sure what actual old people act like. Maybe Sakuma-senpai was the blueprint? Hinata didn’t think about it too much, instead choosing to tiptoe into the room.

Normally, Hinata wasn’t able to successfully sneak up on him. Despite how he presented himself, Sakuma-senpai was surprisingly alert. He always seemed to know when Hinata was planning something, and unless it involves him directly he would say nothing, choosing to observe. Now, as he inched towards the coffin, hands out in front of him like claws, he couldn’t help but hope that this was the day he’d finally prank Sakuma-senpai. Just a few more steps…

Sakuma-senpai’s head tilted towards him, tired eyes finally lifting, looking more alive than they had in the last few weeks. The little sunlight that was let into the room made them sparkle, he clearly understood Hinata’s dismay about his plans being foiled once again.

“Hinata-kun, my child,” he paused, probably for dramatic effect. Sakuma-senpai liked to do that a lot. “What is causing you to sneak around, as such? You look rather impish, can you see something I cannot?”

This was the game that they played, Sakuma-senpai acting oblivious and senile, while Hinata tried to cover his horns with a halo.

“What?” Hinata dragged the question out, trying to ham up his performance as much as possible. Man, if only he had joined the drama club. 

“I just didn’t want to wake you up! I know beauty sleep is important, and all, and I know Sakuma-senpai needs a lot of it, so~” Hinata trailed off there, letting the rest of his sentence go unsaid. All Sakuma-senpai did was raise his eyebrow. Ugh. Hinata must be off his game. Normally he was able to get some kind of reaction out of Sakuma-senpai, even if it was fake.

“Why, is my dear hatchling calling me ugly? Oh, how rude,” Hinata watched as Sakuma-senpai placed the back of his hand daintily onto his forehead. “Beauty comes from within, Hinata-kun, it’s the personality that matters, not the face it comes from.”

Hinata thought about the green hair clips in his blazer pocket. He thought about the cardigan, wrinkled and thrown into the corner of his bag without care. Hinata didn’t want to think anymore, so he instead chose to humor his senpai.

“Well, Sakuma-senpai’s personality consists of being old and talking about Hakaze-senpai, so what now?”

Sakuma-senpai scowled. “You over exaggerate.”

“In the past two weeks, Hakaze-senpai has missed five practices out of seven, has gone on twelve dates, only two of which he asked the girl out first, you had a five minute conversation with him four days ago, and for once he didn’t seem disinterested or uncomfortable while talking to you!”

Caught red handed, Sakuma-senpai did nothing other than click his tongue against the roof of his mouth forlornly. Hinata didn’t mind, he had finally bested Sakuma-senpai in his mind games. He took Sakuma-senpai’s moment of silence as an opportunity to slide his shoes off and jump into the coffin.

He landed pretty ungracefully on top of Sakuma-senpai, who was currently wheezing as if he had the wind knocked out of him. Hinata was able to readjust himself pretty quickly, sitting cross legged near the foot of the coffin, and while he waited for Sakuma-senpai to either get out or agree to the kayaking-in-a-coffin seating arrangement, a flash of orange caught his eye.

“Yuuta-kun!” He had been walking fast—not sparing a glance into the light music club room while he made a beeline for wherever he was going—but a few seconds after Hinata had called his name, he walked back, pausing in the door frame as he looked at Hinata.

“Aniki.” Yuuta’s voice sounded tense, but Hinata couldn’t fathom why. He had remembered to do the dishes last night, hadn’t he? Sakuma-senpai shuffled around from behind him. Hinata tilted his head to look at him, and all Sakuma-senpai did was give him a very questioning eyebrow raise. Hinata shrugged, and turned back to face Yuuta, who was now much closer than his original space in the doorway.

“Yes? What could my dearest and most favoritest little brother need?” Buttering Yuuta up never worked, but it at least diffused the mood of the room a little. Or at least that’s what Hinata hoped, because Yuuta was still giving him the stank eye.

“I’m your only brother. Or, I _was_.” The shuffling from behind Hinata resumed, starting and stopping seemingly at random. It took Hinata a few moments to realize Sakuma-senpai’s knees were no longer pressing against his back, and instead he was halfway across the room, tiptoeing behind Yuuta, and making a break for the door, the traitor. 

“I talked to Tsukasa-kun this morning.”

_Oh_.

“Why,” Yuuta had to pause, throwing his head into his hands. His voice sounded so exasperated, it was almost hilarious. “Why, why, _why_ did you tell him that we had a secret triplet? And for the love of god, why did he have to be locked in the basement?!”

Ooops.

“How did you know that was me, huh?”

“You smell like nail polish remover, you didn’t even get all of the green polish fully off, and your hair is, quite frankly, a mess.”

Hinata raised a hand to his hair, trying to smooth down his bangs for what feels like the three thousandth time that day. After he took the clips out, his hair refused to move back where it normally went, and trying to force it back into place only made it worse. 

“You seriously thought to bring nail polish remover, but not a comb?” Yuuta was definitely judging him, but he rummaged through his bag and tossed Hinata a comb, so Hinata decided to be grateful. As he brushed through the knots in his hair, he sighed. Guess he couldn’t lie his way out of this one.

“In my defense, I wasn’t expecting him to believe it!” Even after hearing that, Yuuta still looked disappointed, eyebrows curved into the world's saddest slants. 

“Really! It’s on him for being gullible, I set it up as an obvious joke and everything! His name is one letter off from mine!”

“You’re going to have to tell him eventually.” Before Hinata could even raise his finger to protest, Yuuta cut him off.

“Seriously, I mean it. You and I both know this charade can’t last forever, and dragging it out while he’s attached would only be mean.”

It would be, wouldn’t it? How was it that Hinata only ever had his best interest in mind? It wasn’t purposeful, he just...well. He guesses Dad was right.

“It’s not as easy as that.” Hinata refused to tear his eyes away from the quilted interior of the coffin, but out of his peripheral vision he could see movement. Yuuta had crouched down to be at eye level, Hinata could just barely see his fingers holding the wall of the coffin, keeping him in a steady squat.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Hinata shook his head, finally risking a glance at Yuuta’s expectant face. 

“I’ll get over it, though, I can–” Yuuta’s expression of surprise went back to disbelief, his already narrow eyes squinting at Hinata, his dimples more pronounced by his frown. 

“No, you won’t.” Hinata had half a mind to be offended, but then Yuuta was talking again.

“I’ll see what I can do for damage control, but if it comes down to it, I will not hesitate to tell him.”

Hinata stayed silent, and so did Yuuta. When the bell signaled the start of their next class, neither of them moved. Even as the time continued to pass, Hinata didn’t know what to say. He hoped the one smile he gave Yuuta before standing up was a good enough thank you.

  
  
  
  
  


Hinata was proud to say that he was able to walk into the 1-B classroom just fine, this time. Tsukasa took sight of him immediately, waving Hinata over to his desk.

“Dinata! It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other!”

Hinata snorted, his eyes had rolled instinctively. “Tsukasa, we saw each other yesterday. We’ve been texting since this morning, too.”

“Exactly, it’s been a long time.” Tsukasa looked proud at that, and Hinata couldn’t help but let him be. Their first meeting was like a gateway drug, and after that the meetups only grew in frequency. 

“Mm, I guess you’re right. We’re practically attached at the hip, huh?” Hinata thought about what Yuuta said a lot. He keeps on meaning to tell Tsukasa, but with each conversation, each phone call, each planned—and impromptu—meetup, he kept on refraining from it. Cowardly as it is, Hinata couldn’t help but spiral and think about how once he told Tsukasa, this friendship he cherished would be no more.

Tsukasa’s smile turned more shy, though Hinata found the uncertainty of it endearing. “Yeah, we are. I wish I could see you more, though.”

“What, like tomorrow? I can see you tomorrow too, if that’s what you want.” Hinata was expecting to turn around and see a pleased grin on Tsukasa’s face, but instead he had switched from less smiley to more nervous. He broke his gaze from Hinata’s after a moment, instead choosing to fiddle with a rubber band bracelet Hinata had given him, made from his trashy knock off rainbow loom.

“Well, no—I mean..! Yes! I mean no! Yes? I- yes, I would like to see you tomorrow, but no, that’s not what I intended to ask. I would lo– _like_ to see you over the weekend, or after school, where we could maybe meet up alone?” Tsukasa stuttered his way through the question, eyes focused firmly on his lap, where his hands were digging into his uniform pants. 

“You know, I could take you sightseeing, or out to dinner...or out to lunch, if that’s what you prefer. Since you don’t leave the house...oh, um, or the basement? Was that insensitive? Sorry. Since you don't leave the basement much, I thought it would be nice to show you around.” Tsukasa cut himself off there with a breathy, almost frantic laugh. Hinata decided to spare both himself from a third nervous ramble and Tsukasa from the embarrassment.

“Woah, Kasa, chill! You don’t have to be this nervous to ask to hang~ even if it is pretty cute.” Hinata giggled, and let the compliment waver in the air. Tsukasa’s face had flushed, so it was safe to say he was sufficely distracted. “I’d have to see what days I’m available, but I’d like that. Especially~ if Kasa’s footing the bill.”

It was silent for a few moments after that. Curiously, Hinata turned to Tsukasa, whose face was deep red and mouth was zipped shut. Hinata poked his cheek a few times, and luckily that was enough to get Tsukasa to snap out of whatever stupor he was in. 

“Hellooo?~ Earth to Tsukasa?”

“Huh? I-Yes! I mean yes, of course! It’d be ungentlemanly of me not to pay.”

“Ooo, You’re taking this very seriously, Kasa-chan, I wonder why…”

“No reason! None! Not a reason! I would simply like to show my friend what he’s missed out on! That’s all.” The air of finality that was normally there when Tsukasa spoke was absent. Considering how stubborn Tsukasa was, Hinata couldn’t help but feel curious about it. Maybe he was still awkward because he had no friends other than Tori? That’s probably it.

“Well, where would you like to take me, then? Tell me about it.”

Tsukasa didn’t think about the question for long, instead choosing to jump straight into his ideal day. “Well first, there’s this new confectionary that’s just opened up, so I’d love to take you there–”

“You would eat too much and get a stomach ache.” Hinata laughed. Tsukasa took a deep breath, raised a finger in objection, but then, after a moment of thought, he put it back down again.

“I suppose you know me too well.”

Hinata hummed. “It does sound fun though! I’d like to see if we could try everything they have to offer.”

“All sweets _are_ good sweets…”

“Yeah! And I bet it wouldn’t even make a dent in your wallet.” 

“No, it wouldn’t. It would count as a necessary purchase, as well. If we don’t try everything on our first trip, then how will we know what to get on our next?” 

“Oo, is Kasa getting cocky? Who says I’ll be able to do a second trip, huh?”

It was the wrong thing to say, Tsukasa instantly wilting like an unwatered flower. If Hinata knew Tsukasa well—and after these weeks of texting, Hinata would like to say that he did—he knew Tsukasa would have an apology on the tip of his tongue. Thinking about Tsukasa apologizing to him when Hinata owed him hundreds made him tempted to rip out his green everything here and now.

Instead, he placed a hand on Tsukasa’s knee. “Hey, Kasa, I was just teasing. No need to look so down, ‘course I’d want to hang out with you more.”

Tsukasa blew out a slow breath, his cheeks going from chipmunk sized to average again. “Well, surely my overreaction must have brought the mood down, and I should—”

“No. It’s a reasonable reaction, and you don’t catch onto tone as well as I do. That’s on me, I mean it~ No worming your way out of this one, Kasa.”

Tsukasa’s eyebrows furrowed. “Was that an insul—”

“ _No_ , I’m trying to be serious. Everyone has strengths, y’know. You’re good at schoolwork. You’re like, stupid smart. I’m weaker there, but I can dance really well, y’know? Stuff like that.”

“Hm. I suppose. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to take this lying down. I’ll be the best tone reader you’ve ever seen!”

Ah, there was that classic Suou ambition. Tsukasa’s face was definitely more suited for his well deserved arrogance rather than whatever hurt had been there before. Hinata wanted to keep him on this route, so he just babbled about nothing. They already knew all of each other’s favorites, so there wasn’t much to share there, but all it took was one “Well, do _you_ think ghosts are real, Kasa?” for a full on debate to be started.

Riling up Tsukasa this way was fun. Unlike before, Tsukasa was aware of what Hinata was doing and let it slide for the purpose of the debate. Deflecting stupid question after stupider question was fun for Tsukasa, a sparkle seen clear in his eyes despite his face being mainly cast in Hinata’s shadow.

It was after Hinata said “Maybe all of your maids and servants are ghosts, and you’ve just never realized!” and Tsukasa bit back an almost laugh that the warning bell chimed. Being this close to Tsukasa, being able to make him smile...Hinata could be late to class. He doesn’t care, he’s going to get that laugh out of Tsukasa no matter what.

Hinata was sitting atop Tsukasa's desk, his back facing the door. Tsukasa, ever the diligent student, stayed seated, instead choosing to look up at Hinata with his fist propping his chin up. Tsukasa’s eyes on him always made him feel a particular brand of giddiness, so when Hinata felt the weight around his neck lighten and Tsukasa’s eyes shift to the left of Hinata, he was also inspired to turn around. 

There Yuuta was, green headphones held loosely in his hands. He dropped them onto the floor soon after, now choosing to dig through Hinata’s bag. Hinata heard Tsukasa ask Yuuta what he was doing, he saw Yuuta’s french tip manicure wrap around pink, and he felt his stomach lurch.

It took all of thirty seconds for the pink headphones to find their place around Hinata’s neck, Yuuta placing them with a definite amount of unneeded force. Tsukasa stared at Yuuta, then the headphones, then Hinata. Once his eyes reached Hinata’s face, Hinata couldn’t bear to look at him. He instead kept his eyes stuck on his green socks, peeking out from the ends of his too short uniform pants. 

They flickered away at the sound of Tsukasa’s gasp, and after that they were in constant motion. Tsukasa, the floor, Yuuta, his busted headphones, Tsukasa, the other students in 1-B all staring at the three of them, their teacher walking through the doorway, _Tsukasa_. 

“It’s you! Aoi Hinata!”

It felt sort of cheesy. Hinata expected more anguish, more anger, more of a tenseness in the air rather than general confusion. Instead, Hinata felt like some cartoonish villain being unmasked. The shock was there, but after years of the same copy pasted format, any outside viewer could have guessed who it was.

“You seriously must be stupider than I thought if you didn’t realize that, Tsukasa. Jeez.” was one of the many unsurprised mutterings Hinata had picked up from their crowd. The whining from Hime-kun especially was like pouring gallons of lemon juice onto every cut Hinata had ever received. Literal or metaphorical, it didn’t matter. Hinata had far too many either way.

The murmurs grew in volume, surrounding Hinata from every angle imaginable. He refused to look at Tsukasa, but Hinata knew Tsukasa was looking at him. His gaze burned into the back of Hinata’s head, and Yuuta’s unsympathetic expression didn’t help Hinata all. His fingers curled around the headphones. Pink ones. The green were on the floor, one of the ear coverings had fallen off, showcasing all the mechanical workarounds in the ear. The left one. Yuuta was to his left, and Tsukasa was to his right.

There was only one way to go from here, Hinata turned and jumped down from the opposite side of the desk. He took the center route and beelined straight for the door. For the first time ever, Tsukasa’s shouts of anger didn’t follow Hinata as he ran out of Class 1-B.

  
  
  
  
  


Hinata had skipped all of his morning classes, instead choosing to hide out in the light music club room. Sakuma-senpai wasn’t there, but Hinata couldn’t say he was upset about that. He wanted to be alone anyways, still mulling over Tsukasa and that morning's events. He couldn’t stand to stay in costume, the first thing he did when he stepped into the room was throw off his cardigan. He had also ripped out the hair clips, but that was a much more painful affair that had taken plenty of strands of hair alongside them.

The loss of the cardigan had left Hinata shivering, though. Not that it wasn’t easily fixed, Hinata had one of Sakuma-senpai’s spare blankets wrapped around his shoulders in seconds, pulled so tight around his lean frame you could see the imprints of his fists from behind the blanket.

His phone kept buzzing periodically, but Hinata refused to unlock his phone. It stayed in his school bag, buried next to pink nail polish bottles, his cardigan, blazer, and miscellaneous hair clips. Hinata couldn’t bear to even look at the text previews, no matter how deserved the contents may be. Occasionally the bell would chime, signalling a class change, but they all blurred together in Hinata’s mind. He had no idea how far into the school day he was, part of him was tempted to skip the rest all together.

Skipping school involved getting up, though, and currently Hinata had no interest in getting up from where he sat on the floor. Sitting around with nothing to do would normally have Hinata bored out of his mind within the first five minutes. Instead, time felt bleary. Maybe hours had passed, or maybe it’s been only a few minutes. Silence normally scared him, it made Hinata talk more to fill the void. Now he didn’t mind it at all. He just sat with his thoughts, but was also nonthinking.

It didn’t make much sense, but Hinata found that it didn’t have to. He could have his pity party in whichever way he pleases. Mourning a friend he should have never made, Hinata sat and stared. The new guitars Oogami-senpai had bought needed to be tuned, they were leaning against the wall rather than hanging from the multiple guitar stands Sakuma-senpai had insisted was a necessary purchase. Yuuta had left his handheld soundboard here, and Hinata had half a mind to ground him for it. That’d show him.

No, that wouldn’t be right. Yuuta was right, as he normally was, and Hinata was just being selfish, as _he_ normally was. It was only smart to stop the beast sooner rather than later, and any hurt feelings Hinata had he deserved. He wondered if Yuuta was talking about him to Tsukasa, about how he had told Hinata that what he was doing was nasty, and how Hinata was cruel for not listening. His mind briefly flashes to Christmas a year ago. He shakes his head, not wanting to ponder over that. 

Would 1-B’s class be running smoothly? Or would the entire class be too restless to pay attention? Was Tsukasa too upset to participate? Hinata knew how much his high grades meant to him, he’d hate to be the reason for one of Tsukasa’s failures. Hinata already knew 1-A was having a productive day without him there to kick the undersides of peoples chairs, or fidget and make noise, or interrupt class time with absurd questions and jokes. 

The bell rang again, although Hinata had no idea what it was signalling. His phone’s messages had started going off like spitfire a few minutes ago, continuously buzzing. Hinata could see the vibrations making his school bag shake, but he chose to ignore it once more, eyes focusing on the various rock posters lining the walls instead. 

Rock music wasn’t really his thing, but it was something to think about and focus on instead of his spiralling social life. He pulled up some playlist Oogami-senpai had given him, labelled “teh best music of all TIME X)”. The playlists origins came from the time when Hinata told him that BabyMetal was the only good metal artist. He was so furious at the notion that he made Hinata his own playlist.

The heavy drums were at least something for Hinata to latch onto. He turned the volume on his headphones all the way up, tapping his fingers quickly against his arm to the beat. Closing his eyes, he let himself get surrounded by the music. Hinata wasn’t as good with traditional instruments as he was with digital soundboards, but he was still able to pick out notes he would alter, or instruments he would have added or subtracted to make the songs better. 

He got lost in the music, so immersed that, when he felt something tap his shoulder, it didn’t register at first. It took a good four more taps before Hinata realized that someone was touching him, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Before he knew it, he was ripping his headphones off, turning, and jumping up to look one _very_ surprised Tsukasa Suou in the face.

“I—” Tsukasa couldn’t even finish the one syllable, instead turning to look quizzically at the headphones. Hinata had the volume up so loud that even now, when they were on the floor, the two of them could still hear the more screamed than sung lyrics clearly. “I-I’m sorry...are you mad?”

“What? No.” The response was instinctual, something good considering Hinata himself felt frozen.

“Your...music is angry.” Tsukasa looked at the headphones with a frown, the song playing at the moment definitely was violent.

“I mean, I guess it is, but I’m not listening to it because I’m angry. I just like the drums?” The last part was a weak excuse, but Hinata didn’t exactly have a reason for choosing this playlist other than when in Rome, do as the Romans do. If he said that Tsukasa would just think he was lying. 

“Besides, shouldn’t you be the angry one?” The deflection was a stupid one, considering Hinata was ready to run away in a moments notice if Tsukasa’s mood soured. It was, however, necessary in order to divulge away from Hinata’s nonexistent anger.

“Hm? No, not really.”

What. 

That was all Hinata could think. Huh? Shouldn’t he be mad? He should be mad. Why wasn’t he–

“I think it's sort of sweet, actually. You were too nervous to talk to me, so you hid instead. It’s not like you acted differently, either. You were just Hinata in hiding.”

“I was not scared!” Hinata spoke before he could think about his next words. His face burned, Tsukasa was purposefully trying to rile him up with that stupid smile of his.

“Oh, really?”

“I wasn’t! I was just, uh, well...you know–”

Tsukasa nodded sagely at that. “I _do_ know. That’s why I say it’s okay to be a little nervous sometimes, Hinata-kun.”

Hinata groaned in frustration. It seemed to surprise Tsukasa, his smile falling slightly. 

“Was I actually wrong? I’ve been rereading your original messages all morning, and they didn’t feel mean spirited…” Tsukasa frowned, his eyes now completely off of Hinata.

“You weren’t answering my texts, so maybe…”

“No!” Hinata hurriedly repeated the word a few more times, his attempted reasoning with Tsukasa turning more into a panicked spiel.

“I haven’t even looked at my phone since this morning! I swear! Pinky promise I wasn’t ignoring you on purpose!”

Hinata saw purple eyes raise to meet his. They were hesitant, but once the two of them locked eyes they didn’t fall again. “If that’s the case, then why did you start texting me..?” The question trailed off, Tsukasa lost for a reason.

“I mean, this is pretty stupid, but I was really deadset on…” Hinata mumbled the last of his sentence, so quietly he could barely make out his own words.

“I’m sorry, what? The music is still very loud. I think you need to speak up.”

“I wanted to make you laugh!” Hinata shouted. He _refused_ to look back at Tsukasa, instead keeping his head down. He’s seen the expression all to well on Yuuta before, Hinata knew he would look like–

Hinata was cut out of his thoughts by a poorly bitten back laugh. He raised his head to glare at Tsukasa, to tell him to cut it out, to stop finding amusement in his suffering, but he was interrupted.

A laugh, a legitimate cackle burst out of Tsukasa, and once the dam broke, waves of giggles followed. It was the most unknightly laugh ever—Hinata swears he heard a snort at some point—and it was perfect. 

“Hinata! Hinata!” Tsukasa’s voice was breathy as he chanted, and his positioning was odd. He was both doubled over and trying to look up at Hinata at the same time. One hand gripping his stomach, the other wrapped around Hinata’s headphones. Placing them close to Hinata’s face, Tsukasa started to laugh again, even harder than he was before.

“Hinata!” Tsukasa almost screamed midlaugh. “Hinata, Hinata, did you–” A smattering of giggles. “Did you kn–kn- _oh_ ” A gigantic cackle followed by pained wheezes. “Y-Your _face_ —”

Hinata sighed.

“Yes, I know my face is the same color as my headphones.” Was said in a monotone, unlike Tsukasa’s airy “You’re as pink as your headphones!” said at almost the exact same time.

Hinata’s ashamed acceptance only fueled Tsukasa on into a stronger giggle fit. He really was giving laughing the same treatment he gave everything: his all. Chuckles, chortles, cackles, you name it, Tsukasa did it. If Hinata weren’t burning up with embarrassment he’d probably admire it.

Oh, who’s he kidding, he is admiring it. Tsukasa shone, looking like he had no cares in the world. Such a carefree expression was priceless on him, someone conditioned to always care about his public appearance. Hinata’s eyes were glued to Tsukasa, his face almost as pink as Hinata’s was at this point. As it died down, Tsukasa fell to the floor, hands wrapped around his abdomen as he took deep breaths. He smiled when he locked eyes with Hinata, but it wasn’t like before. He didn’t look like he was about to burst into another fit of giggles, so when he gestured for Hinata to sit next to him, Hinata did.

Tsukasa’s eyes had a slight downward tilt when he smiled, Hinata could feel his face getting pinker at how fond it looked when directed at him. Faced this close to Tsukasa, Hinata could see the faint beauty marks on his face, covered up by poorly applied concealer. It was cute, how in a group full of models Tsukasa still hasn’t learned proper makeup techniques. 

Hinata didn’t have much time to dwell on Tsukasa’s face. Instead, his attention was brought to Tsukasa’s hands, as they wrapped around his own. That’s fine! That’s great! Tsukasa is just holding his hands and staring into Hinata’s eyes _very_ tenderly and Hinata had not expected his Tuesday to turn out this way at all.

Tsukasa breathed out a small laugh. “I’m glad to know you still have the same sense of humor, Hinata. It’s what pulled me into your orbit, after all.”

“Orbit?” Hinata squeaked, brain having come to a complete stop.

“Mhm. You’re the sun, and I’m Earth. Ousama is definitely Jupiter, and Sena-senpai’s the trash that gets stuck in the asteroid belt—Oh wait, no, this is supposed to be serious…” Tsukasa had the gall to look concerned over the fact that he had ruined his own metaphor with a diss to his unit member. As if that made this moment worse rather than more perfect. 

Hinata laughed at the absurdity of it all. Tsukasa stared back at him, until he was laughing again too, albeit quieter and more controlled. Then, he lifted one of Hinata’s hands, and brought the back of it to his lips.

_Oh_.

Hinata didn’t know what to do, so he laughed. It was nervous, and awkward, and really sounded more like he was being strangled. 

“Wah, Tsukasa-kun really is a Knight…”

Tsukasa smiled. “And is Hinata-kun interested in being the fair maiden I protect?”

The expression made Hinata’s heart beat faster, so he put his all into masking it up with his acting.

“But of course!” Hinata pulled his right hand away from Tsukasa, letting the back of it rest gracefully against his forehead as he pretended to swoon. His left hand was still held in Tsukasa’s, a position finalized when Tsukasa laced their fingers together. It was a stupid way to go out, but when was Hinata ever serious?

If anything, everyone should be grateful that Tsukasa was now less so, beaming as he declared to fend off any evildoers interested in bringing Hinata harm.

“Pfft, with you and what sword?”

“I have my bow and arrow, is that not enough.”

“Not as cool as a sword.”

“Ah, what a shame. If only there were a senior in my archery club that we could steal one from~”

“Ooh? A heist? How rebellious of you, Kasa!”

Yeah. Everyone should be grateful, but no one’s as grateful as Hinata.

**Author's Note:**

> hiiiiiii
> 
> do you like them. i like them. follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/reikaocore) if you want [:
> 
> and!!! [moto drew dinata](https://twitter.com/motokiie/status/1296059196199370752?s=21)!!!!
> 
> title is taken from Heart Attack by Chuu from LOONA! 
> 
> speaking of, alternatively: 
> 
> Tsukasa breathed out a small laugh. “I’m glad to know you still have the same sense of humor, Hinata. It’s what pulled me into your orbit, after all.”
> 
> “Orbit?” Hinata squeaked, brain immediately thinking of the twelve girl universal pop sensation 이달의 소녀 aka LOONA!!!!!!!!!! Everyone knew Heejin was the Aoi quadruplet, after all!


End file.
